


Something to Fight For

by jackstanifold



Series: Of Family and Fear au [3]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Major Illness, Memory Loss, also, fundywastaken is mentioned in this btw, niki ranboo and fundy are siblings, ranboo is half enderman but it's... different, uhhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28035861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackstanifold/pseuds/jackstanifold
Summary: Niki had never had a little brother before.
Relationships: Floris | Fundy & Niki | Nihachu, Floris | Fundy & Niki | Nihachu & Ranboo
Series: Of Family and Fear au [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2052519
Comments: 19
Kudos: 292





	Something to Fight For

**Author's Note:**

> i swear going to update the main fic but until then... have a niki fic because i simp for her!

She woke up in a village. It was late, and cold, and she couldn’t remember why she was laying in the middle of the street. She couldn't remember anything, actually. Her arm hurt, but she couldn’t tell whether it was from laying on it funny, or an old injury, something else. 

She was young. That was obvious to her, which was odd. She somehow knew she was 7, but she couldn’t remember her own name.

It started raining. She didn’t like rain. She knocked on one of the doors, trying to huddle out of the wind. The thing that opened the door looked human, but it wasn’t. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she backed away with a gasp. It looked down at her, raising an eyebrow. “Hrnn?” 

She had a choice. Trust this… not human, or freeze to death outside in the rain. Finally, she turned back to the man-like creature. “I’m sorry… I… think I’m lost. May I stay with you?” 

It couldn’t understand her. She frowned a bit, then switched languages, although she wasn’t sure why she knew multiple languages, or even what the languages where. “Can I please come in? I think I am not at home here…”

It nodded, stepping aside for her to enter. Iit showed her to a small room, with a small bed.

Over the years, she learned some things. Her name was Nihachu. It wasn’t really, she thought, but it was a very pretty word, and she liked it. She spoke three different languages, but she couldn’t remember the names of them and the non-people only spoke one of them- the one with the flat sounds and dumb words, like “door” and “village”. The non-people didn't speak the language, just understood it. They communicated with her in hums and murmurs and gestures. They didn't have names, as far as she knew, but they had jobs. One in particular, the farmer, the one who let her stay with it the first nights, was a friend. A good friend. 

She learned about the world too. Undead creatures (zombie in every language she knew) would crawl through town at night sometimes, turning anyone they came across into zombies too. There were green, four-legged things too (which she didn’t have a name for, but she called them brisants) which would blow up if they got too close. They caused a lot of damage.

There were other things. Tall, dark shadows. They dug holes around the village at night, purple eyes glowing in the dark. According to what little the non-humans could tell her, they were once people, like her, who got sick, and changed, all humanity leeching away. Nihachu called them Endergebnis. The final result. 

She didn’t know what she was. She was different from the non-humans. She knew that, they knew that, that was an established fact. When she asked what they were, they gave her an odd look, then gestured around. ‘We are what we are. Does it matter, in the end?’ They were right. She knew what she was (human, mensch, humana) and she knew what they were (friends, fruende, amigos) and that’s all that mattered. 

She couldn’t remember anything else. It bugged her, sometimes, when she layed in bed, her eyes staring at the ceiling in the dark, but in the daylight, when she helped in the fields, digging up carrots, or in the library, sorting books she could barely read into shelves, she couldn’t really find it in herself to mind. 

She’d assumed that she was alone. A human amongst humanoids, and that was fine. Then, one day, she was outside, carrying a bundle of hay from the fields to the baker, when she saw a boy sitting in the road. He wasn’t a villager. He was human.

And he was crying.

The little house the farmer had built for her was cramped, but she didn’t mind. It was cozier with the toddler there too. She was nearly 10 at that point, going off the birthday she’d chosen for herself (November 3, a very nice day, usually pretty warm, but just starting to cool off). The boy was so much younger. He was probably 4 or so, but she couldn’t really tell. He didn’t understand her swirly languages either, only the flat one. Unlike the non-people though, he spoke it back. 

He didn’t know his name, so he just called himself Ranboo. He couldn’t say Nihachu, so he called her Niki. She didn’t mind. 

Ranboo said things differently. His words were flatter, and more square shaped, but they still had a little curl to them. He babbled about everything, and mispronounced most things, but Niki never really corrected him. He stumbled over the word brisants, instead calling them bush monsters, and he couldn’t seem to wrap his mouth around the term Endergebnis, so he called them endermen.

Niki had never had a younger brother before. Or, maybe she had. She couldn’t remember having a younger brother, at the very least, so she didn't think it counted. Ranboo was the closest thing to family, other than the farmer, and maybe the baker, who had taught her to make cake.Watching him stumble around the village, making up names for things she couldn’t explain, and building little piles of dirt and wood and rock was the closest she could remember to feeling like a big sister, and that was a feeling she liked.

When she was 12, another human appeared in the village. She was suspicious, at first. She was worried that the person would hurt her brother. She spied on them from the bakery window, watching them wander through town, their reddish brown hair pulled up under a black cap, and faintly, she wondered why they didn’t just cut it. Then, they turned and looked right at her. They were younger than she thought, probably her age, give or take, with freckles on their face, and a scar on their nose. They looked like a fox, she thought.

She raised a hand, waving slowly, and their face lit up, and they ran inside to meet her. 

They didn’t speak her swirly languages. They didn’t speak the common, square language either, though. Their language was so similar to her’s, with the same spitty ch sounds, and some of the words were the same, but it wasn’t quite the same language. They seemed to understand her a bit, and managed to introduce themself as ‘Fundy’. She tried to introduce herself as Nihachu, but they didn’t understand, shaking their head in confusion. Finally, she settled for pointing at herself and saying ‘Niki’. They nodded, and a friendship was born.

They said they were a girl, at first, but she didn't really think they liked it. Every time she would tell them they looked pretty, or say “she”, they would grimace a bit. One day though, Ranboo asked Niki if Fundy was a boy, and she said she didn’t know, he nodded gravely and said that he thought they were, even if they didn’t know it yet. She couldn’t think of anything to say to that, but she did switch to calling them “he” and using masculine terms. The first time she did that, they sat up very suddenly to stare at her, but didn’t correct her. 

Around a week later, he shoved a pair of shears into her hands and pointed at his hair. “Chop chop,” he said in the common language.

He learned more of common, and before long, he and Ranboo were having conversations, no longer needing Niki to translate. She didn’t mind. Ranboo was wise for a 7 year old, and Fundy was incredibly clever (like a fox, she thought, pleased her initial impression was accurate.) Niki was pretty smart, too, the only with any sort of skill at potions, and the only one who could read common. The non-people liked the three kids, teaching them how to craft things and how to fight zombies and to build and farm. Fundy learned to play the keyed instrument with little buttons (Piano? Niki wasn't really sure if it fit, but it was close enough.) and she and Ranboo would sing along.

Everything was nice. Everything was safe. She had her brothers (Was that really how she saw them? It seemed the closest term, but in all honesty, Fundy seemed more like a best friend than a brother, though she couldn’t really tell the difference anymore. It didn’t matter. They were a family.)

One day, though, Ranboo got sick. 

It was little at first. He’d cough a bit, curled up under layers upon layers of blankets, and squint at the light as though it hurt to look at. Fundy would make mushroom stew, his hand stroking the young boy’s sandy brown hair and tell stories in his swirly language, and although the younger couldn’t understand any of it, he listened.

Then he started to change. He got thinner, his hair lost its color, and his blue eyes started to turn green. One day, Niki came home from the bakery to find his sitting up in bed, staring at the floor. 

“Oh! Ranboo, are you feeling better?”

He looked at her, and for a moment, it was like he didn’t recognize her. Then his eyes went wide. “Niki? Where am I?”

That was the moment she realised how bad this was. The non-people seemed to recognize the illness, but when she asked, they shook their heads. Don’t worry about it. It’ll be okay. They were lying. They never lied to her.

Fundy was mad. No, not mad, scared. Fundy was scared, and that translated to yelling, and punching things, and going out to fight monsters at night instead of resting. 

Ranboo changed again. His hair went black, then started to fall out, and his right eye started turning a bright purple. He stopped moving, just staring at the ceiling. He didn’t recognize Niki at all any more, and eye contact made him uncomfortable, ending up with him squirming anxiously or crying.

One day, Niki decided it was time for a bath. She helped him out of bed, he seemed taller than he should be, his legs unnaturally long, but he seemed too light as he leaned on her. She was scared. Not as scared as she was when she managed to get his nightgown off and saw the dark scales crawling up his spine, and not as scared as when she went to lower him into the water and he started screaming. It wasn't hot, at least, not that hot, but when he yanked his leg out, she saw red blisters, as if he’d dipped his leg in acid.

That was when she figured out what the mysterious sickness was. 

Endersickness.

Her little brother was turning into a monster before her very eyes and she couldn’t do anything about it. She told Fundy, and as she expected, he was furious. He said some not very nice words in his language, kicking the wall and shouting out in pain as his toes cracked. 

“We can’t let him die.” He said, and she agreed.

The non-people had a solution. Well, not really. They had a suggestion. The librarian handed Niki a book, tapping the cover and looking at her meaningfully. She smiled at it, thankful for whatever information it was trying to share. 

The book was small, and bound in green leather, and had tattered pages. The title was inked on the front, in small, neat writing. Potions of Healing and Harming.

There was a bookmark on page 16. Potion of End. She read the description and felt her face light up. It was going to be hard, but if she did it right, she could save Ranboo. Fundy agreed it was a good idea, and with the help of the farmer and the butcher, they travelled into the nether to gather ingredients.

Niki didn’t like the nether. It was hot, and it was dark, and it smelled of sulfur and ash. The pigmen rushed at her and Fundy, and a ghast appeared from the gloom to scream at the small party. It was quite possibly the scariest experience of her life, but she got the stuff and they left.

In the four months it took to brew the potion, Ranboo got worse. His entire right side was covered in tiny black scales, and part of his nose and his right cheek and eyelid had rotted off, leaving him looking like a skeleton. His teeth were changing to a dark grey, instead of white, and his right eye was a solid green, with a bit of blue and purple in the iris. He didn’t talk anymore, only groaning, or shrieking when he was scared or hurt. He would wander the village, digging up chunks of dirt, and carrying them around to place them around the village. He didn’t have much time left.

The first potion was finally done. Niki almost wept with relief as she poured the bright red liquid into a small bottle, and her hands shook as she approached her brother. He was nearly as tall as her, but it wasn’t natural. It looked like he’d had his little eight year old body stretched.

“...Ranboo?” He turned to her, his eyes on her hair. He stepped closer, his hand reaching for the golden strands slipping from her bun, but he stopped, turning away, and started to walk away. She grabbed his sleeve, causing him to jump and whirl around, a look of panic on his face. She felt awful, but she had to do this. 

“I’m sorry, but I have a present. It’s a… it’s juice. You like juice. Remember?” He stared at her. “Just… drink it. It’s yummy.”

She pushed the bottle into his hands and he looked at it, then looked at her, then he sniffed it. He paused, then drank. He grimaced a bit, before smiling politely at her and handing the empty vial back to her. It didn’t seem to work at first, and she felt her heart sink, but then his face twisted and his hands flew up to his head and he suddenly dropped, crouching on the dirt path and rocking back and forth. He stayed there for a while, before looking up at her. “Nik… Nikachu?” 

The potions weren’t good enough. They slowed it down, and Niki figured they had a few years more than before, but it wasn’t going to stop it completely or reverse the damage already done. But she did her best, and figured things out for herself. 

Finally, Fundy suggested they move to the city. There’d be better care there and better supplies, and there were humans. She agreed, at first, but it was increasingly obvious that Ranboo wouldn’t make it. 

The villagers swore to keep him safe, though, and keep making his potions, and help him. So Niki and Fundy left for the city.

It was a lot more crowded than they thought it’d be, and the king was kinda a tyrant, but they kept their head down. They’d been there for a year or so, sending potion supplies back to the city when Fundy met Wilbur. He came home late that night, talking about the man who he’d stolen from, how he’d let him keep the bread, and given him an apple. Wilbur let Fundy move into his spare room, and helped Niki find an apartment and a job at the bakery.

She was good, and eventually, when the old lady in charge retired, she took over. Fundy joined her, and the two of them became the most respected bakers in the land.

One day, the new king- a young man named Dream, who couldn’t be much older than they were- came to the bakery, stumbling through the door with a laugh, and shoving one of his friends off of him. Then he and Fundy made eye contact, and Niki knew she’d lost her best friend. 

Within a year, Fundy had gained a new dad (Wilbur, who was actually really nice, and let her mess around with guitar), and a new boyfriend (King Dream, who sounded way too similar to Ranboo, accent wise, except he seemed a bit more power hungry than she could ever imagine her little brother being), and a new best friend in the form of the tall man who showed up at the bakery sometimes to chat (She thought their name was Eret? They seemed quite nice at least, and talked to her with respect, so she didn’t really mind them.)

Her entire world fell apart when she was 19 years old. When the dust settled though, she was ok. Fundy was a life short, but she didn’t care about him anymore. He’d burned their bridges along with the flag.

It was a cold day in March, and she was trying to rebuild her bakery from where that anarchist bastard had set it on fire (before the final battle, he’d told her that he thought she was pretty cool, and he hoped she made it through. She’d considered him a friend. She wasn’t sure what she considered him anymore) when she heard Tommy let out a shout. 

“How am I always the youngest?!” She let out a chuckle, and set down her shovel. Someone new must’ve arrived, and she wanted to meet them. Jack, Punz and Tommy all stood around the (incredibly tall) person, who stood with their back to them. There was something so familiar about them, the way their limbs seemed just a bit too long, and the way half of their head seemed perfectly smooth, and black as night. As she got closer, she realised exactly where she knew them from, and her heart completely stopped.

Tommy saw her, and grinned. “Niki Nihachu!!! Have you met Ranboo yet?”

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know any german, or dutch, but they're pretty similar... right?
> 
> also ranboy! god, i love this guy.


End file.
